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Beyond the Shadows 



BY 



Evelyn Gage Browne 



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PUBLISHED BY 

THE ARPODENE STUDIO 
Pittsfield, Mass. 

COPYRIGHTED 1918, BY EVELYN GAGE BROWNE 



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BEYOND 



Beyond the darkness that I feel 

Descending like a pall of night, 
Beyond the fears that ofttimes steal, — 

There's always Love — and Quenchless Light! 

Beyond the hurt that seems to be, 

When my spurned heart grows lone and sore; 
Beyond the barriers I see, — 

There's always Love — an Open Door! 

Beyond my weary struggle here 

Where discord seemeth ne'er to cease; 

Beyond the turmoil and the tear, — 

There's always Love — and Perfect Peace! 

Beyond Gethsemane's dark hour, — 

Up Calvary's hill my cross I've borne; — 

Beyond the grave — of vanquished power, — 
There's always Love — and Easter Morn! 

Beyond my heart's unfilled desire, 

Beyond earth's chastening and the rod; 

Beyond the longing, and the fire, — 

There's always Love — and in Love — God! 

©CJ.A499907 

JUL 29 1918 



UNSEEN 

Dear God, make us to see 
What Life doth mean; 

And where death seems to be, 
See the Unseen. 

Lord, make our hearts to feel,- 

Mid those who slay, — 
That Love alone is real, 
And lives to-day. 

Father, make us to know, — 
Though broken, sore, — 

We are Thy children, so — 
Whole evermore. 

O Love Divine, this hour, — 
Soiled overmuch, — 

Make us to clasp Love's flower, 
Thy robe to touch. 

Thou, whom no eye hath seen, 

Our sight renew 
To see the things Unseen, 

Eternal, true. 



NATURES MESSAGE 

Do shadows bid thee doubt God's love? Ah, listen 

To birds awing; 
Watch thou the dew-bespangled blossoms glisten, 

Breathe in the Spring; 
Quaff of the nectar from a lily's chalice; — 

Then look above, 
And, with uplifted soul that knows no malice, 

Say — "God is Love!" 

Oh, dost thou doubt that man is made immortal? 

Behold the morn! 
Though day expires, through dawn's eternal portal 

It comes — reborn. 
Beyond the leaves that fall in autumn splendor, 

Is April's breath — 
And Life renewed ; then say, with heart made tender- 

"There is no death!" 



THE VOICE OF AUTUMN 

Across the blaze of glory in thy hand, 
There falls a prescient shadow o'er the land, 
And as thou holdest to my eager lips 
The cup of beauty from which splendor drips, 

I hear the beat 

Of winter's feet; 

While breezes say: — 

"Death comes this way." 

Nay! not death's advent dost thou herald here: 
Life, life! — in all its fullness and its cheer 
Is pulsing through each flaming leaf, until 
It rings triumphant from each vale and hill. 

List! this the call: — 

"Life — over all!" 

There speaks through thee — 

Eternity ! 

From out the goblet that thou offerest me, 
I quaff the promise of the Spring to be; 
Though in death's guise, I look beyond the veil, 
Up, up — where transient earthly splendors pale. 

Below I stand; 

Yet, on each hand, 

Thou bid'st me see — 

My Heaven to be. 

When Life shall come to me, — that men call death 
May I look past the lie of mortal breath, 
Nor list the minor strain that, through the roll 
Of Life's grand anthem, sobs into my soul; 

But hear the call: — 

"Life — over all!" 

And know — like thee — 

Eternity I 



IF 



If Faith were not! — 
Then couldst thou cast away 
The seed within thy hand and soul, 
Nor send aloft like waves of incense sweet 
The prayers that rise until with God they meet. 
Yea, thou couldst rend the sacred scroll 
For life were but to-day: — 
If Faith were not! 

If Hope were not! — 
Then thou the bud couldst rend, 
And trample 'neath thy scornful feet 
Its prescient promise of supernal bloom, 
Nor quaff ambrosial draughts of its perfume; 
Then thou couldst call life incomplete, 
And this, alas, the end: — 
If Hope were not! 

If Love were not! — 
Then what were seed or bloom) 
A lifeless thing — no joy to give; 
Yea, thou couldst spurn the beauty with a sneer, 
And hold naught precious or eternal here; 

But mourn that thou must serve and live, — 
Thy only goal — a tomb: — 
If Love were not! 

If God were not! — 
Then couldst thou rail at Fate 
And curse this finite seeming span, — 
Because the blossom faded in thy hand; 
Nor bless the scattered seeds, nor understand 
The Immortality of Man; 

Then thou couldst cry, "Too late!" — 
If God were not! 



IDOLS 

I builded an idol to Love one day, 

And decked it with garlands of flowers; 
I lavished my best, — but it crumbled away 
'Neath its weight of delusive hours: — 
For my Love — was a face, 
And a form of grace. 

1 builded an idol to Faith one day, 

And hung it with jewels rare; 
But it rocked to its base of worthless clay, 

With its burden of unanswered prayer: 

For my Faith — was a creed, 
Without blossom or seed. 

I builded an idol to God one day, 
And offered my life — my youth; 

But it shattered to fragments, till dust it lay 

In the white-hot flame of Truth: — 
For my God — was a fate, 
Compounded of hate. 



FROM THE DEPTHS 

Deep in the depths of earth 

Where blackness covers thee, 
Look down, and naught of worth 

Thy blinded eyes shall see; 
But lift thy gaze above, — 

E'en though the sky seems far, — 
And thou, through Faith and Love, 

By day shalt see a star. 



FORGIVENESS 

Forgive you — for what? — that you turned me 

To look at the stars? 
When bitterly, harshly you spurned me, 

You wrested the bars 
From my soul, and I staggered forth weeping, 

Unable to see 
At the first, — so long I'd been sleeping, — 

That lo, I was free! 

You goaded me, flayed me, — till bleeding 

I woke: — oh, 'twas pain! 
My eyes throbbed with light-stabs, unheeding 

The glorious gain. 
And stunned by the blow that had felled me, 

I cried —e'en though saved — 
For the prison in which you had held me 

A captive enslaved. 

The world says you wronged me: — how badly 

Men see, at the best. 
They read but the surface, and sadly 

Deny all the rest; — 
With Heaven's treasure mine for the taking, 

They pity the while, 
And marvel my heart is not breaking, — 

Appalled at my smile. 

Forgive you? — why almost I love you 

For dealing the blow 
That made me look past and above you, 

Where beacon-lights glow. 
You freed my caged spirit for living; 

And so, even yet, 
I thank you: — there's naught for forgiving, — 

Nor would I forget. 



GOD'S ROSE 

In the flush of the Dawn God fashioned a Rose, — 
(And the Rose and the Dawn were — You!) 
Like a prayer of cheer, 
He placed it here 
In my heart, all fresh from His hand — and new. 

In the hush of the Morn God gathered His Rose, — 
(And the Rose and the Morn were — You!) 
So the searing ray 
Of a weary day, 
And the palling shadows, it never knew. 

Now the Rose blooms on in Eternal Morn, — 

Love's own, — still blessed by Heavens dew; 

And though all earth weeps 

That the Blossom sleeps, 
I know it lives somewhere, with God — and You! 



FEATHERS AND FLIGHT 

Frail blooms still sentient on the swaying stem; 

Dear hands that planted there, 
Forever folded! Life athrob with them 

So close; with thee the hush of endless prayer — 

Where, dear love, where? 

Lo, here a fluttering feather fallen prone; 

Somewhere a winging bird 
Afar to pristine heights of blue hath flown: 

The feather by each breath of mine is stirred, — 

The song — unheard! 



THE DIM BETWEEN 

Where'er thou art, where'er I bide; — 

Thou here, I across the Great Divide; — 

My hand shall reach till thine be met, 

In life or death; — do not forget! 

For in the dim Between — alone — 

I'll watch, where Love doth wait its Own! 

If I be left, thou gone before; 
My only path to Heaven's door 
Shall be thy way, — below, above, — 
Content 'tis thine; — remember, love! 
For in that blest Between, 'tis known- — 
God grants this boon; — Love finds its Own! 

So if my soul be tried by fire, 

While thine doth climb; I'll strive, nor tire; 

But welcome pain and deem it bliss 

If I be purged: — remember this! 

Until — Between — more worthy grown, 

I'll meet thee; — where Love claims its Own! 



THE TIDES 

Ebb-tide; — and a dreary waste of sand, 
Dank seaweed along the shore; 

Each wave as it slips from the gleaming strand 
Sobs this sad strain: — "All hope is o'er! — 
I chant of the waves that come no more." 

Flood-tide: — and each wave that higher creeps 
From the blue, unfathomed sea, 

Lilts this refrain as it lightly leaps: — 

"Hope on! — there's a richer joy to be; 
I sing of the waves that follow me." 



ASLEEP 

You have fallen asleep, and I kiss you 

On lips and on brow; 
I grope in the darkness, and miss you — 

As but Love knows how. 
'Tis strange death should give you this seeming 

Of sleep after strife, 
When I know you've just waked from 
your dreaming — 

To fullness of Life. 
I look on your eyes sealed forever; — 

For the first do they see. 
Has the hand that just now seemed to sever, 

But joined you to me? 
You prayed for Life, — Love; has God 
crossed you, 

Lying dead and alone? 
Can it be, when it seems I have lost you, 

You are closer — my own? 
Men call waking, sleep; and Life, dying, — 

Reverse the Divine; 
Thus 'tis I who am sleeping — and sighing; 

You are living — and mine! 
The truth your calm face is adorning; 

So I kiss you Good Night, — 
To dream on and await your Good Morning — 

When cometh my Light. 



ECHO 



Each night when my spirit grows lonely, 

I go out 'neath the infinite stars 
And call from my soul- — to you only; 

Then listen: and lo, Heaven's portal unbars; 

And out of the Silence Appalling, 

From your lips that so long have been dumb, 
"Come back to me! ay, come!" I'm calling; 

There rings back the blessed assurance, — "I come!' 

Then, thrilled to my being, enraptured, 

I call, — "Where are you? Do you hear?" 

And the soul of you, free and uncaptured, 

Speaks out of Life's Unfathomed Mystery, — 
"Here!" 

"O Dear Heart, I love you!" soars ringing; 

Then, pure as the morning's own dew, 
Your answer comes tenderly winging 

From the vastness of God's blest Somewhere, — 
"I love you!" 

"Will I lose you so far up in Heaven, 

As below I wait?" then — blessed Fate! — 

The skies by your promise are riven 

As the Great Unknown sends back your vow, — 
"Lo, I wait!" 

Men jeer me and say I am mooning, 

Calling you but an echo, — yet lo, 
My soul with your soul seems communing: 

"Are they right, — do they know?" And your 
answer comes, — "No!" 



NOBLY BORN 



If, — when men fancy wealth an earthly thing, 

And scorn thee, call thee poor, — 
Thou knowest thou art rich — heir of a King — 

With Gold that shall endure; 
If thou canst smile- — when spurned, and flayed by 

While Reputation flees, 
And joy in Character that never dies, — 

The only thing God sees; 
If, — when men call thee fool, and jibe — forsooth, - 

Thou canst rest well content 
In understanding Life's exalted Truth, — 

And be the Man God meant; 
If thou canst make thy attic — Heaven's gate; 

White robes — thy garments worn: — 
Then, though men rate thee clay — of low estate, 

God marks thee — -Nobly Born! 



SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 

Whate'er of sunshine cheers thy way, 

In May or bleak December, 
Store up each brightly golden ray: — 
Remember! 

Whate'er of shadow comes to thee, — 

E'en whilst thou dost regret it, — 
Imprison it and lose the key: — 
Forget it! 



Mr 



